Ging599

Believe me, I have made all of the points you gents just made. Some members have an attitude towards things that I do not understand. I am still pushing forward with the intention of forming the FAST and hope it pans out. I am further hoping that some of the negative members who see us progressing and training with FAST like what they see and become interested and come onboard.

The FAST situation in Putnam is less than ideal. If not calling Putnam Valley, ICs are just calling neighboring departments for an Engine or Ladder and assigning them as FAST. This doesnt necessarily give you a crew that has taken any FAST training. This, among other reasons, is why I am trying to form a FAST team in Carmel. It seems to have sparked some interest as I have a number of members signed up for next weeks FAST class. If nothing else comes out of this, at least I have a half a dozen guys who have taken the class who hadn't previously. Ideally, we end up with enough guys trained and educated that we can create a formal FAST team. Unfortunately I have met some resistance. If I hear one more time from someone that they don't want to create a FAST team because all you do is sit outside a building, I might strangle them. Instead I try to educate them on the positives of expanding training and ideas but sometimes this just doesn't get through.

We just ordered our bailout systems from RPI. Their representative told us they have a 10 year lifespan.

If you watch the video, at about the 10 minute mark, they discuss replacement and basically say it depends upon use. We were told when purchasing out bailout systems that they need to be replaced after 10 years. I too have been looking for this in writing.

Below is a link to the NYS DOL training kit for bailout systems. You can find all kinds of vague answers there. http://www.labor.state.ny.us/workerprotection/safetyhealth/Firefighter-Emergency-Escape-Systems.shtm

There was recently a similar thread to this about unsafe riding for parades which was promptly taken down. I am surprised this one has lasted. Santa rides inside with the crew or walks.

All members respond to the station unless they have to pass the scene to get there. We are strict about this and it is almost always complied with by members. Basically, as sometimes is in fire service, its about risk vs. reward. How much time are we really saving driving L/S to alarms? Unless there is a major traffic jam in town, probably not much, so even if an AFA turns out to be the real deal we aren't going to lose much on our response time.

I appreciate all of your input.

I have addressed this with drivers and officers. You would be amazed at some of the justifications I hear as to why they went "Code 3". I won't go into specifics. It is hard to remove driving privileges or take disciplinary action when there is no set policy. I tried to lead by example. It is well known in my department that I very rarely use lights/siren on my Chief vehicle. Yes I have been driving down the road with no lights or siren on and in my rear view mirror I see the engine in the distance lights a blazing.

Believe me, I don't want to write more policies that further police the department but I stalled on this for a year and watched how responses went. I heard more absurd reasoning as to why they used the sirens for obvious non-emergency calls and got more complaints from people about the Q being wound up at 3am for no reason than I care to admit. I feel I have no other choice.

I am in the process of putting together a slient response policy for my department and was wondering if any of you had a similar policy in effect. Not every alarm requires a "Code 3" response so I am trying to draw up a policy to address this. Any ideas or input is appreciated.

Our FD is one of the few exceptions that Grumpy mentioned in Putnam County that does not provide EMS. At the request of our local VAC, (and false assurances that there very few CPR calls that they actually go on), we signed on with the Echo level policy that Grumpy described above and now respond with EMS on CPR calls. Our department was one of the first to be activated with EMS once the policy took effect and have gone on at least 7 such calls since it was implemented. We require that members that go on these calls are a minimum of CPR/AED certified. So far there seems to be positive feedback from the VAC as they appreciate the extra hands on scene.

Week after next ..... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Forensic-Weather-Consultants-Meteorologist-Howard-Altschule/119349651409804

More on this: http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/northern_suburbs&id=8747567

The scenario I had in my mind when I posted this was a cardiac arrest call with family present. Members performing CPR would benefit from having respiratory protection due to the increased likelihood of aspiration. A simple, does he/she have any infectious diseases question during initial interview with the family. Of course first responders should have respiratory protection on but you honestly don't see that being worn so much.